Web app development isn’t an easy cakewalk. It’s an erratic landscape and a dark art to ‘non-coders, making it less approachable. And since it’s an art and not an engineering process, web application development primarily caters to creating a website/web app that is user-friendly. What doesn’t look good and isn’t user-friendly is of no use!!
This short article will take you through the following topics:
- What is a web application/web app?
- How does a web app work?
- Web Application Development vs. Website
- Top 10 examples of web app development
- Top web app development frameworks
- Best UI/UX design software for web apps
- Advantages of web apps
A web application or a web app is an interactive computer program built with web technologies (HTML, CSS, JS). Such an application stores Databases and Files and manipulates data (CRUD). A team or a single user uses these applications to perform tasks over the internet.
Now, you might be wondering what CRUD is?
CRUD is a popular acronym at the heart of web app development.
CRUD = Create, Read, Update, and Delete.
Internet users access web applications via a web browser like Google Chrome, Brave, Safari, or Mozilla Firefox and often involve a login/sign-up mechanism.
Web apps are hosted on remote web servers. These website applications store relevant and ready-to-serve information using numerous computers connected via the internet. Any client can run a web app and access the required data. People often refer to a web app as a client-server program.
How does a web app work?
A web application or website usually requires three elements to work:
- Step 1— A web server for better handling clients’ requests.
- Step 2— An application server for an amplified execution of requested tasks.
- Step 3— A database to store the information.
The typical ways in which a web app works:
1. First, a user connects to the Internet and creates a web service request using the app’s user interface (UI).
2. Once the server request is made, the web server will process it and send it back to the correct web application server.
3. The web app server performs the required tasks and produces desired information requested by users.
4. And when the above three things are achieved, the web app server again sends the info back to the webserver to the client’s device; laptop, desktop, or mobile phone.
5. Finally, the requested information appears on the user’s display in a regional language that users can easily understand.
The critical difference between a website and a web app is users interact with each.
Web applications are defined based on the input — create, read, update and delete data within itself. At the same time, websites are defined by their output — reading, marketing information, FAQs, etc.
For example, an email program like ProtonMail.
And other examples include — WeChat, WhatsApp, Flipkart, Flickr, Zoom, and Microsoft 365.
Web applications can include anything, from shopping carts and spreadsheets to online banking services. They have become practically indispensable across industries for almost anything you might want to undertake.
Top 10 examples of web app development
- Mailchimp — A marketing automation platform is specializing in email marketing since 2001. Its UI is highly complex yet beautiful and simple to use.
- Google Docs — Believe it or not, it’s a web app. The tech giant google developed it in 2012 after acquiring various other web applications. People love this app to create, read, update, and delete documents.
- Notion — It is an all-in-one note-taking and collaboration web app with markdown support. It was released in 2016 and quickly became famous for many small businesses.
- Airtable — It is an ‘Online Excel,’ similar to Microsoft Excel UI but with additional layers of functionality. It is a robust web app for database solutions with thousands of users.
- Xero — The accountancy web app with a focus on data. Xero highlights how a web app can deal with complex computations and present the results to users in a simple interface.
- Yahoo! Messenger — It was a great messenger app but failed due to the rise of smartphones and other similar apps like Hike, WhatsApp, Signal, etc.
But Yahoo! Messenger’s principal battleground was once desktop computers. Back in the mid of 2000s, if anyone wanted to use it, it was required to download and install it on a desktop computer.
But with the rise of Orkut, Facebook, and Twitter, users began shifting to websites and web-based social networking apps instead.
7. Canva — It is a graphics design web app. Founded in 2012, this web app offers the online services of designing posters, presentations, and other visual content for any audience.
8. Netflix — This online video streaming web app (an OTT platform) allows paying users to watch movies and TV shows on-demand without limitations. This web app is accessible across devices; desktops, tablets, smartphones, and operating systems; Android, Linux, and OS. Netflix also offers a mobile app!
9. Microsoft Office — Earlier, it was available as a software application that needed to be installed onto a desktop computer. But today, with the rise of Google Workspace, WPS Office, etc., Microsoft Office is now a hugely popular online suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) available on the internet. And yes, it’s also available to download on a desktop and mobile phone as an app or individual apps such as — MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint.
10. Trello — It is a digital solution that makes it easy to organize and track tasks, making your workflows easy. Collaboration is one of the essential functions of web apps, allowing multiple people to work on a single dashboard. Trello helps team collaboration for more effective project management.
For a spontaneous smoothening of the web app development process — just like the (React) reusable open-source Js library, other web app development frameworks are there for amplifying the process better:
- React — It’s not only free but also open-source & popular Js lib. that helps develop UI components in a reusable & proactive manner.
- Angular — Better call it dynamic & reliable in terms of successively removing repetitive & less-usable codes for swifter app development.
- VueJs — It’s a prominent MVVM (model-view-model) open-source framework that can assertively boost the single-page app development process.
- jQuery — This language is bundled with a never-ending motto of simplifying the document-object model (DOM) manipulation & much-required AJAX calls flexibly.
- Flutter Web — Future of Flutter is a viable choice for native web rendering, mobile (iOS & Android) apps, and scalable deployment as per the progressive requirements.
There are many UI & UX design software packages, but a few top ones are mentioned below that will allow you to make catchy and trending designs that your users will love:
- Figma
- Adobe XD
- Sketch
- Envision
Here are the advantages of web apps/web applications.
Cross-platform compatibility
Web apps are excellent at being compatible across platforms than conventional installed software. The only requirement is to install a web browser like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. You can run web apps on Windows, Linux, or Mac OS.
More manageable
Web apps only need installation on the server, hence lower stress on the end-user workstation. Also, maintaining and updating are simpler.
Highly deployable
Deployment of web apps for any platform in any work environment is effortless due to the manageability and cross-platform support. And it’s ideal for users with limited bandwidth and remote servers.
Secure live data
More extensive and complex systems carry more data and have separate systems and data sources. Web apps provide an added layer of security by eliminating access to the data and back-end servers.
Robust Technology at Reduced costs
Due to reduced support and maintenance, web-based applications are easily deployed at lower costs on the end-user system using a simplified architecture.
Excessive use of the Internet among organizations and consumers of technology has influenced the way businesses to operate. And because of the consumption of information at a fast pace, widespread adoption of web apps is shifting from traditional models to cloud-based and grid models.
Web apps allow businesses to:
- Streamline their operations,
- Increase efficiency, and
- Reduce involved costs.
Web apps like email clients, word processors, spreadsheets, and other programs provide the same functionality as their versions for desktop computers. However, the only added advantage is that they can work across multiple platforms with a broader reach and are easily accessible from anywhere.
